


The Queen of Swords

by speedy



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-12
Updated: 2009-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedy/pseuds/speedy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol of power.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Queen of Swords

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Children of Earth, Fragments  
> The Whoniverse belongs to BBC. I'm just playing in their sandbox.  
> Quote is from [_Pictorial Key to the Tarot_ by A.E. Waite](http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm), creator of the Rider-Waite tarot card deck.  
>  Beta'd by stuffphile.

Alice slammed down the empty glass on the table. She spent way too much time at the pub, drank way too much, but she couldn't stand being in that house, so close to Steven's things. Every time she closed her eyes, she still saw her father killing her son. She could still feel his lifeless body in her arms. If she drank enough, the world would just fade away to darkness.

For a little while at least.

A little girl, no more than thirteen years old and wearing an old fashioned dress straight out of a Victorian photograph, walked up to her table. "Can I read your cards?" she asked.

Alice looked up at the girl in annoyance. "Aren't you a little young to be in here? You should be at home with your mother."

The girl just blinked, showing no emotion.

"That was a no."

The girl swept the glasses off the table and sent them crashing to the floor. She took the seat across from Alice and dealt from set of very old and worn tarot cards.

"No, really. Go away."

The Tower, the Star reversed, Death.

"You have a choice before you." She dealt three more cards, laying them perpendicular to the other three.

The Hanged Man, the Jack of Swords, the Devil reversed.

She placed her hand on the Jack of Swords. "You will become him or you will share his fate."

Alice picked up the card and stared at it in shock. The Jack of Swords had her father's face.

"The century has turned twice since I first read his cards, in a tavern much like this, drowning himself in drink. Your fates are intertwined. You can't avoid him."

"I can damn well try."

Alice stormed out of the pub without a look back. She slid into the driver's seat of her car and broke down in tears.

* * *

When the sun rose, Alice found herself sitting on the steps in front of the Welsh Assembly building, looking out over the big crater where she knew the Torchwood Hub had been. She was numb, completely emotionally drained.

She knew what the little girl had been referring to. Jack had told her years ago how he'd joined Torchwood. It was one of the few things he'd been open and honest about with her. He hadn't wanted her to follow down that path.

_You will become him or you will share his fate._

Her father had been a drunk and a stupid one at that. Alcohol made him mouthy and careless and he got into trouble. In the six months Torchwood had watched him, he'd died fourteen times.

She wouldn't be honest with herself if she didn't admit she was the same. Alcohol made her stupid and mouthy and careless. She'd already crashed her car once while drunk, even if only into a parked car.

Alice made her choice. She wasn't ready to die.

* * *

Alice was contemplating ways to shut off Home Office's irritating on hold music when she heard his voice, calling for Gwen, clearly expecting her to still be in charge. Jack had been off Earth for two years. A lot had changed.

She hung up the phone and went to her office door. Much of the Hub had been gutted by the bomb that had killed him and rebuilt. Her office now overlooked the main work area. She watched as he walked around like he owned the place. With the team off on a tech retrieval mission and Gwen out on her second maternity leave, it was just the two of them. The edges of her mouth tipped up. Wouldn't he be surprised to see her. She stepped out onto the balcony and cleared her throat.

He spun around and looked up in shock. "Alice?"

"Hello, Dad."


End file.
